This guide has been drafted for the Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry by the SMART SPP consortium, c/o ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and is aimed at assisting public authorities in becoming "innovation-friendly" – that is achieving the most innovative, energy efficient solutions within their procurement actions, particularly through increased dialogue with suppliers and producers.

This guide is intended to help improve the contribution of universities to regional development, with a view to strengthening the economic, social and territorial cohesion, in a sustainable way. While the primary target users of the guide are the Managing Authorities, it is expected that Regional Authorities and other bodies engaged with local and regional development will also find it of value.

Innovation-based incubation is not the most recent subject in Europe per se. it is over a quarter of a century that the European Commission has triggered the phenomena through the establishment of policies and actions aimed at boosting innovation within Europe as a method to support regional development practices and SME competitiveness.

This work presents a new methodology to assess the outward connectivity among regional economies in the EU and derives policy lessons for the design of regional innovation and competitiveness-enhancing strategic frameworks, with particular reference to research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3).